Medical+Volunteers+-+Response+Ready!

=Medical Volunteers - Response Ready!= Melissa Dredge Floyd Myung

Instructional Objectives
Learners will be able to identify their roles and responsibilities as a disaster medical volunteer when working in one of several different scenarios: a Point of Dispensing (POD) location where officials would give out medications to the public to prevent/treat mass disease or illness; a disaster shelter; or an Alternate Care Site (ACS). Learners will be given the opportunity to practice making decisions in these unfamiliar environments using only their training, prior skills & experience, and the limited resources typically available in a disaster. Random injects will be administered by the leader, called the Incident Commander, to add challenge and reinforce key information. An ACS, the selected scenario for this design proposal, is a non-traditional location (e.g. a gym, portable tent, etc.) set up by local officials to provide limited health and medical services during a disaster. The purpose of an ACS is to alleviate the burden on overwhelmed hospitals that need to focus on taking care of the sickest patients who are most likely to benefit from treatment. The allocation of scarce resource (who gets treatment and who doesn’t) may be an additional scenario to build out in the future. Learners will demonstrate their mastery of the medical volunteer [|Core Competencies].

Learners & Context of Use
Learners for this game will be medical volunteers who have received an orientation to the volunteer program and have received some prior exposure to the concept of an ACS. Medical Volunteers - Response Ready! could be used within the actual orientation, at special training meetings, conferences, or in the community with potential volunteers and response partners.

Most volunteers are licensed health care providers ranging from nurses (bachelor level) or physicians (extensive graduate studies). Age ranges from mid- 20's to 70's. Some are actively practicing while others are retired and maintain their licensure. Volunteers are unpaid and highly motivated to help. They are typically passionate about contributing to their community. The long-term intent of this proposal would be to create a game structure that can be applied to the multiple scenarios identified above by just switching out the game board, role cards and scenario cards. The players (doctor, nurse, respiratory nurse) would be the same for all scenarios. The Incident Command Post function (where the player can request additional resources, report problems) is similar through each scenario.

Competing Products
//United States Patent [|6669196]: Public health oriented board game system// The game system in this patent description includes a gameboard layout and play structure that easily allow adaptation to scenarios from the field of public health.

There are several online games targeting public health, including [|The POD Game] by CADE. A review of this game was the subject of my recent posting to the [|EdGames Blog].

**Object of the Game**
Players roll dice and answer various questions in order to move through the ACS gameboard. The goal is to be the first person to reach the end which requires the player to have a foundational understanding of the ACS key definitions, concepts, principles and procedures. All players are awarded a mock Medical Volunteer of the Year Award and winners are given a logo pin.

Content Analysis
Medical Volunteers - Response Ready! Content Analysis

Game Materials

 * Gameboard with a generic ‘footprint’ of the ACS. The pathway follows a linear movement through the stations of the ACS.
 * Instruction shet
 * Game pieces (charms representing volunteer roles)
 * Caduceus = Physician
 * Fire engine = Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-Basic or Paramedic)
 * Nursing cap = Nursing professional
 * Hand = Counseling professional
 * Flag = non-medical, logistician, or incident commander
 * Spinner tool to select type of question (Security, Infection Control, Check-In, Triage, Incident Command, preparedness, public health,
 * Playing cards (question cards based on above categories/stations)
 * Question and multiple answers on one side. Correct answer is highlighted.
 * Backside of card has the category and symbol used on the gameboard.
 * One standard six-sided die.
 * Reward materials: 1) pre-printed "Medical Volunteer of the Year Award" certificates, and 2) team logo lapel pins for winners
 * Reward materials: 1) pre-printed "Medical Volunteer of the Year Award" certificates, and 2) team logo lapel pins for winners

Time Required
25 minutes for a group of about 4-5 players to run through the scenario.

The Rules
List the rules as you would provide them to the players. Use a numbered list and keep the rules short, simple, and unambiguous. If there are multiple forms of the game for different objectives or different levels of challenge, separate the rules accordingly rather than merging them into one set.
 * 1) Set up the game board in the center of the playing area.
 * 2) Place the spinner in the center of the board.
 * 3) Place the cards in piles according to category along the left and right side of the gameboard.
 * 4) Each player selects a charm representing their professional interest and places it at the ENTRANCE to begin their shift.
 * 5) Each player roles the die to determine playing order.
 * Highest roll goes first.
 * 1) First player roles the die.
 * 2) Player then spins the spinner to determine the question category.
 * 3) Player to the left selects the top card from the appropriate category and reads the question and the possible answers.
 * 4) Player selects answer.
 * If answered correctly, the player advances along the footsteps according to their die roll at the beginning of the turn.
 * If player answers incorrectly, their turn ends and they do not advance.
 * * Some cards may include additional directions:
 * If correct, add additional advances.
 * If incorrect, spend one turn in the morgue (e.g. failure to apply PPE)
 * 1) Play continues as described above until first player successfully reaches the end of his/her shift.
 * 2) At the conclusion of the game, the session facilitator passes out a volunteer certificate to each player and a lapel pin to the winner.

Optional variations on play:
 * Impose time limit of 15 seconds for answer period.
 * Session facilitator can inject scenario changes and instructions to multiple groups of players. (Start over, switch players amongst groups)

Motivational Issues
Describe how the game engages the learner. How does it make use of curiosity, challenge, control, fantasy, competition, cooperation, etc.? (No one game will do all of these things, so focus on the particular strengths of this particular game.) Make specific reference to the theoretical readings associated with this course. Race structure Simple and familiar to speed acces

Design Process
Describe the process you went through in putting the game together. What were your first thoughts? How did you enhance your ideas? What ideas did you consider and reject (and why?). How did you gather background information? What did you do to see if there are similar games out there? What did you do to get feedback on the idea? How did you flesh out the game to the point of having a playable prototype? How did you gather feedback from that? What lessons did you learn from this that you'll carry to your next game design project?